1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to electrical computers and, more particularly, to data processing system error/fault handling and to multicomputer data transferring.
2. Description of the Related Art
Broken web links are a common problem in the Internet industry. Internet web pages are electronic documents that are retrieved from a web server. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) identifies the server that stores/hosts the web page. These web pages, however, may themselves contain embedded links to additional content. When a web page is retrieved from the web server, all the component parts linked to that web page should also be retrievable. Often times, however, one or more links to additional content are broken. That is, when the web page is retrieved, one or more of the embedded links refer to non-existent web pages or web pages with errors. Sometimes the embedded URL address is incorrectly typed. Sometimes the servers storing the embedded content is malfunctioning or not available. Sometimes the servers serve partial pages due to components of the server code malfunctioning. Most times, however, the document located by the embedded URL is no longer stored on the web server. A failed embedded link often results in the familiar Error 404 “Page Not Found.” When an embedded links fails, components are missing and the integrity of the web page is lost. The user requesting the web page is frustrated, and the web master responsible for the web page is frustrated. There is, accordingly, a need in the art for methods, systems, and products for verifying the integrity of content served by web servers.